As a conventional parking lock apparatus of this type, there has so far been known a parking lock apparatus which comprises a parking gear and a parking pawl provided, in a power transmission apparatus for transmitting the power outputted from an engine to an axle, an electric actuator to be activated to selectively engage the parking pawl with the parking gear or disengage the parking pawl from the parking gear, and a connecting mechanism to connect the parking pawl with the electric actuator to have the parking pawl operated by the electric actuator (for example see Patent Document 1).
The parking lock apparatus disclosed in the Patent Document 1 is constructed to have the electric actuator and the connecting mechanism disposed on the side wall portion of a housing accommodating therein a power transmission. The side wall portion of the housing is in the rear side of the axle and in the vicinity of the axle, and thus take a position overlapped with the axle when seen from the front side of the vehicle. The electric actuator is accommodated in a casing having a rear portion at which there are arranged an electric motor and a lead line connector.
The conventional parking lock apparatus is constructed to be switched to selectively take a parking lock maintained state to maintain the stoppage of the vehicle or a parking released state to release the stoppage of the vehicle when the electric actuator is activated in response to the driver's shift operation.
Further, the conventional parking lock apparatus is constructed to have the electric actuator and the connecting mechanism disposed on the side wall portion of a housing accommodating therein a power transmission, the side wall portion of the housing being in the rear side of the axle and in the vicinity of the axle, and thus taking the position overlapped with the axle when seen from the front side of the vehicle, so that the electric actuator and the connecting mechanism are behind the axle and cannot seen from the front side of the vehicle. This leads to the fact that a special member or members are not required to be provided for protecting the electric actuator and the connecting mechanism from flying stones.
Further, if the conventional parking lock apparatus is constructed to have the electric motor and the lead line connector provided in the rear portion of the casing of the electric actuator, the casing of the electric actuator leads to serve as a protection wall occupying the section relatively low in strength. The conventional parking lock apparatus is constructed to protect the electric actuator and the connecting mechanism from flying stones without introducing the increases in the number of parts and in the production cost.